Heart of the Tiger
by SSBFreak
Summary: All Tiny wanted was a chance to get to see other worlds. He got so much more than that... xCROSSOVER PAIRINGx
1. Starting Off

Chapter One: Starting Off

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The sun was shining down upon several small houses in what looked like a jungle. While at first glance, things looked like a normal village, the people inhabiting it told otherwise. Sitting atop a rock, typing frantically on a pink laptop was a female bandicoot, wearing human clothes and with a full head of blonde hair, complete with a ponytail.

"Coco!" A voice called out.

Coco Bandicoot looked up from her laptop and saw a tribal mask floating towards her. She smiled. "Hey, Aku Aku!" She greeted back. "What's up?"

"I just got a letter from the boss." Aku Aku explained, holding up a letter (somehow). "They liked your idea for new game and they think it has a good chance of actually making it."

"Really?!" Coco asked excitedly. "Wow! That's great!"

"Oy! Did they mention anything about what AH wrote about?" An Australian voice asked from behind.

The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw a dingo-crocodile hybrid walking over with a hopeful grin.

Aku Aku sighed. "No, Dingodile. They still think you and Tiny make better villains." He replied.

Dingodile's face drooped. "Aw, man! Why can't those guys see the potential Tiny and Ah have? Did they forget 'Crash Bash'?" He asked.

"Sadly, EVERYBODY'S trying to forget 'Crash Bash'." Coco sighed. "I think the company's even denying Rilla Roo's existence."

"But it was the only one Tiny and Ah enjoyed because we were good guys!" Dingodile insisted. "Ah even said that in the letter!"

"I'm sure that they'll notice the potential you guys have someday." Coco assured before looking at Aku Aku again. "What about Cortex's idea of having a new villain instead of him this time? That seemed to work well for 'Twinsanity'."

"Yes, but we all know Cortex simply wishes to be beaten up less." Aku Aku sighed. "And he usually ends up getting the short end of the stick anyway."

Despite what everyone else outside of their node thought, Cortex was, in reality, on relatively good terms with Crash and the others. Even some of his men were good friends with Crash. One thing that Cortex never staged during the games, however, was his hatred for bandicoots in general. Everyone had to admit that Crash's ineptness got annoying at times, and even caused some damage to several of the sets during production for several games. Of course, Cortex was usually the only one injured during said destruction of sets, and that just made things worse.

"And the others?" Coco asked. "What about them?"

"Well, the boss is seeing some potential in Koala Kong and everyone seems to want Ripper Roo to come back. Pinstripe and the Komodo Brothers are still trying to get some popularity with the fans, but it's too early to tell at this point." Aku Aku replied.

Suddenly, before any of the three had time to react any further, they heard a distinct singing voice coming from behind.

"_She eat like she have hole in neck and Tiny always one who get stuck with check!_" A loud voice sang. "_Tiny don't know how they no weigh ton! Oh, girls just want have lunch! Girls just want have lunch!_"

Coco, Aku Aku and Dingodile looked and saw a huge, orange tiger walking towards them, a pair of headphones sitting on his head, which was obviously the source of the music he was singing.

"How did Tiny get so into Weird Al, anyway?" Coco asked.

"Ah think Donkey Kong brought a CD when he came by ta visit." Dingodile replied.

"Hello, everyone!" Tiny said cheerily and he walked up to the ground, put his music on pause and took off his headphones. "What going on?"

"Aku Aku's just telling us about this letter he got from the boss." Coco replied.

"Oh! Did boss agree to give Tiny bigger part?!" Tiny asked excitedly.

"They're thinking about it." Aku Aku replied, looking over the letter again. "I think you've got an okay chance because you're a lot more popular than Koala Kong. Heck, I think you and Crunch are tied for the most popular strongman in the series."

"Anything other than cheap cameo Tiny get in Twinsanity is fine!" Tiny insisted.

"Well, if they use my idea, I think we'll finally have a great game again." Coco replied. "We haven't had a truly great game since CTR, after all."

"How do we keep getting' games if our franchise is strugglin', anyway?" Dingodile asked.

"In all honesty, I think the companies like Crash's 'stage personality'." Coco replied again, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. Everyone looked and saw Crash chasing his tail. "Apparently, they thought Crash was just ACTING stupid for the games to make them funnier."

"Is that why so many different companies made our games?" Dingodile asked.

"Wouldn't be surprised." Coco reasoned.

Tiny looked around for a few seconds, then back at the others. "Where Crunch?" He asked. "Him not show up for workout this morning."

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Coco asked. "Crunch went to VG Central for the day to hang with some of his friends he hasn't seen in a while."

Tiny tilted his head a bit. "VG…Central? Where that?" He asked.

"You've never heard of VG Central, mate?" Dingodile asked. "Why, it's right smack dab in the middle of all the different gaming node around."

"Yes. It's the center point of all the gaming nodes, and thus brings all of them together." Aku Aku added. "Game characters go there every day to mingle and take their minds off of the hassle of everyday life or to unwind after receiving poor reviews for a game."

"Is it good place to go?" Tiny asked.

"Oh, heck yeah." Coco nodded. "I go there all the time. Some of my best friends hang out at VG Central."

Tiny's eyes lit up in excitement. "Can Tiny go there?!" He asked.

Dingodile laughed. "Sure, Tiny. Ya can go there whenever ya want." He said. "The station's open all the time and it only costs three bucks fer a ticket."

"Why tickets so cheap?" Tiny asked.

"With the amount of people travelling every day, they can afford to have it so cheap." Coco replied. "You should go there sometime, Tiny. You definitely wouldn't regret it."

"Can Tiny go now?!" Tiny asked.

Dingodile looked at his watch. "Well, it IS kinda early in the day. If ya wanna go today, go right ahead." He replied.

"Just make sure you're back for supper, alright?" Coco asked.

Tiny nodded frantically. "Okay! Tiny be back before supper!" He agreed. "Where station?"

"The nodal train station is outside of the village, down the road a bit." Aku Aku explained. "Just be sure to remember the way back to the nodal train station when you get there."

Tiny thanked the others and bid farewell to them. After he did, Tiny left the village and started running down the dirt road outside of it.

The huge feline wasted no time in running down the dirt road. Soon, he spotted a huge, futuristic-looking building off in the distance. Tiny quickly rushed over to it and pushed open the double-doors to get inside.

Looking around for a few seconds, Tiny quickly spotted a counter. Knowing that he shouldn't run unless he was in a real hurry, Tiny walked over to the counter.

"Can I help you?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Tiny want to go to VG Central." Tiny replied. "When does next train leave?"

"You've got plenty of time. "The man assured. "A ticket's just three dollars."

"No problem." Tiny said as he handed three dollars to the man. After a couple of seconds, Tiny had a ticket.

"Thank you very much!" Tiny said. "Which way to train platform?"

"Just up those stairs over there." The man replied.

Tiny quickly went up the set of stairs he was directed to and found himself standing on a small train platform. Tiny looked around and quickly saw a parked train. The sign nearby told Tiny that it was going to VG Central, so the huge feline knew he had found the right train.

Walking over to the train, Tiny stepped on and quickly found a seat. It didn't take much longer for the train to start. The train drove forward for about twenty yards before vanishing into a wormhole on the track, vanishing from sight completely.

To be continued…

Author's note: Keep in mind that this fic will have several references to different crossover pairings.


	2. VG Central

Chapter Two: VG Central

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Sitting in his seat on the nodal train, Tiny looked out the window in awe. The entire wall of the strange void the train was speeding through was made up of a strange, pulsating purple energy with black streaks everywhere.

"So strange." Tiny mused in awe. "Energy looks so weird."

"You get used to it."

Tiny looked to his right and saw one of Cortex's lab henchmen sitting beside him with a smirk.

"Your first time on the nodal train, Tiny?" The henchman asked.

Tiny nodded. "Yeah. Tiny just hear about this today." He replied. "What about henchman? What you doing here?"

"N. Gin is entering this scientist competition in VG Central." The henchman replied. "I'm usually one of his helpers when he goes to these things."

"Who N. Gin go against?" Tiny asked.

"Oh, the usual. Dr. Eggman, Dr. Wily, Prof. E. Gadd." The henchman replied. "I just hope things turn out differently this time, because things always end up in the same way."

"What way that?" Tiny asked.

"You'll see." The henchman sighed.

Tiny shrugged and decided not to press the matter any further, then returned to staring out the window. Eventually, the purple void vanished in a flash of white light, and when the white light vanished, the train was pulling into what looked like a crowded train station.

Still looking out the window, Tiny saw that the station was crowded with many, many people that looked like they had come from so many different nodes, getting onto or off of different trains to go about their business. The train came to a stop after a few seconds, and shortly after it did, the doors opened up.

In all honesty, Tiny couldn't get off the train fast enough, as he was so excited to get out and see VG Central with his own eyes.

Stepping off the train, Tiny found himself on the train platform that looked like it was suspended in the air. Countless buildings surrounded the train platform, showing that VG Central was a huge city. On this day, the sun was shining brightly and there were only a few clouds in the sky.

It only took a few seconds for Tiny to locate a set of steps that went down to the roads of VG Central. Soon, Tiny had left the small nodal train station and stepped out onto the road.

"Wow! So many different people around here!" Tiny said in awe as he looked at all the different characters walking around.

As Tiny walked down the sidewalk, he saw a small group of people listening to a group of ten Rabbids singing (although it sounded more like a bunch of 'Daahs' at different octaves). Tiny was about to go over and join the group when one of the Rabbids accidentally whacked the one beside him in the face.

The Rabbid that got whacked glared daggers at the guilty party, then let out a psychotic scream. The others, for some odd reason, joined in the screaming.

Tiny stepped back as the guilty Rabbid ran past with all of the other Rabbids chasing him down, screaming psychotically.

Somewhere in the crowd of people listening to the Rabbids, Toad shook his head. "They never finish that song." He noted.

Deciding that he should probably continue on, Tiny did just that and continued on his way, wondering if there was something else he could do.

Eventually, Tiny came upon what looked like an arcade. Seeing another crowd gathering, Tiny decided to go over and see what was what. When Tiny approached the arcade, he saw that the group of people were watching two men fighting it out on a DDR machine. The first man was completely bald save for a unique yellow and blue mohawk and the second one wore a distinctive pink gi.

"What going on?" Tiny asked the person closest to him, which turned out to be a purple, female cat.

"These two go at it once a week, challenging each other to one of these faceoffs." The cat explained. "They're trying to see which one is the better dancer."

"Are both good?" Tiny asked.

"You have no idea." The cat replied. "When one of them goes against anyone else, they always win. The only ones they can't seem to beat are each other."

Tiny decided to stick around and see how this ended. Indeed, both men proved to be quite good, showing off moves and scoring points rapidly. It looked like it would be anyone's game, and the winner would have to be decided when the song finished.

Eventually, the song finished and both men stopped dancing. The small crowd clapped for the two as their scores were about to be displayed. A worker at the arcade went over the scores as the two dancers were recovering and shook his head.

"Sorry, guys." The worker said. "We have another draw."

This caught the attention of both dancers. "WHAT?!" They both asked.

"You both have the exact same score." The worker replied.

"But we've been getting draws ever since we started challenging each other!" Duck King, the one with the mohawk said. "Why can't someone just win?!"

"My guess is that you guys are evenly matched." The worker deduced. "You've both been playing on the highest difficulty and you get the same scores. The only hope either of you have is that one of you screws up."

"But that'll probably never happen!" Dan Hibiki countered.

Standing in the crowd, the female cat sighed. "I knew it. It happened again." She said.

"It always end like this?" Tiny asked.

"ALWAYS." The cat replied. "I don't know why I keep coming to watch them dance if I already know the outcome. I think the only thing that keeps bringing me back is that one of them might actually win." The cat sighed and turned to Tiny. "So where are you heading, now?"

Tiny shrugged. "Tiny don't know. This first time in VG Central and Tiny just looking around." He admitted.

"Well, I'm mainly here to wander around myself." The cat replied. "I can give you a tour if you want. After all, VG Central IS pretty big."

"You do that?" Tiny asked in surprise. "Tiny would like that!"

"Great." The cat said with a smile. "I'm Blaze. I come from the node of Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Tiny name Tiny." Tiny replied. "He come from node of Crash Bandicoot."

"Nice to meet you, Tiny." Blaze said with a smile. "So which way are you heading?"

"Uh…That way." Tiny said, pointing off in the direction he was initially walking in.

"Okay. We'll head off that way, then." Blaze nodded in understanding.

"Blaze know way around well, then?" Tiny asked.

"Pretty well." Blaze nodded. "I come here on a regular basis anyway." She suddenly noticed that they were approaching a corner. "Wait, Tiny. Just stop for a second." She said as she stopped walking.

Tiny, although confused, stopped as well. "Why? What wrong?" He asked.

As if on cue, the group of screaming Rabbids ran past them, still chasing down the one responsible for ruining the singing earlier. As soon as they were gone, Blaze looked around the corner.

"Okay. We can continue on, now." Blaze said as she continued walking.

"Uh…That happen often?" Tiny asked, glancing in the direction the Rabbids had just gone.

"Yeah. It usually takes those guys a couple of hours to calm down." Blaze replied. "One might say that they have a very one-track mind."

"Tiny would say so." The huge tiger said, shaking his head.

"So what are things like in your node?" Blaze asked. "I've always been curious, but never really made the attempt to go there."

"Well, like what?" Tiny asked, scratching his head.

"Are things in your node like they are in the games?" Blaze asked. "Like is Cortex a bad guy in real life and is Crash really as stupid as people think he is."

"No and yes." Tiny replied. "Cortex not bad guy like he is in games, but he still hate bandicoots. Probably something happen to him as a kid. Crash no put on act, though. Him really that dumb."

"Yeesh. You guys put up with him?" Blaze asked.

"Crash's lack of brain make him look funny. Him get us big break." Tiny shrugged. "Tiny no complain."

"I don't know if I'd be able to put up with someone like that all day." Blaze sighed.

Once again, Tiny shrugged. "Tiny get used to it." He replied. "He put up with Crash for years."

"Well, I guess I'd have to meet him someday to see if he's really that hard to put up with." Blaze reasoned. "Hey. Is it alright if I change the subject?"

"Go ahead." Tiny replied. "Tiny don't know what else to talk about Crash."

"Well, you seem the type that would love a good fight. Am I right?" Blaze asked.

"Blaze right." Tiny said with a grin. "Tiny work out all time and look forward to good fight."

"Then I might know a place you might be interested in." Blaze replied. "Here. Follow me."

Tiny followed Blaze through the streets of VG Central, wondering where she was taking him. The two eventually came up to an intersection.

"Stop." Blaze said as she stopped.

Tiny stopped just in time for the group of Rabbids the run past again, screaming.

"Okay. Let's go." Blaze said.

Before continuing to follow Blaze, Tiny glanced back with a confused expression, wondering how the Rabbids could have gotten this far so quickly after running in the opposite direction not too long ago.

As Tiny followed Blaze, a shadowed figure stood at a distance, watching everything. The figure pulled a radio out and spoke into it.

"Boss, the target met up with someone." The figure explained. "We may have to postpone the mission for a bit."

"_This might prove to be a problem. We need to act fast, but I don't think we have a choice at the moment." _A voice said from the other side of the radio. _"Very well. We'll have to wait a couple of days before we try again. Report back for now. We'll go from there."_

"Sir." The figure nodded and he turned off the radio and vanished from sight.

To be continued…


	3. The Others

Chapter Three: The Others

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Tiny continued to follow Blaze through the streets of VG Central, wondering where she was taking him. The two occasionally stopped for Blaze to show Tiny something, but they continued on shortly after they did. Thoughts went through Tiny's head, but he honestly couldn't think of anywhere Blaze could be taking him.

Eventually, Blaze led Tiny down an alleyway. Once the two walked down the alley a little, sounds of a fight could be heard from just around a far corner.

"We're almost there." Blaze pointed out. "Come on, Tiny."

"Okay." Tiny nodded as he continued following the smaller feline.

Blaze led Tiny around the corner and stopped, pointing ahead. "There it is, Tiny." She said.

Tiny looked ahead. He could see that several alleyways connected at this spot, and the entire area was pretty spacious. In the middle of the open area was a large, concrete square built higher than the ground, and several rows of concrete benches were scattered around, all of them facing it. Tiny saw two large figures having what looked like a spar on the slab of concrete, which told the large tiger that it was a fighting arena.

Looking at the two fighting, he saw that they were completely different, but had similarities at the same time. One looked like a huge turtle with a spiked shell, two horns on his head and a full head of fire-red hair. The other was covered with purple hair, and also had a set of horns. Both looked immensely strong, and from the looks of things, neither of them were winning the fight.

"What going on?" Tiny asked.

"This is an arena people use to train if there's a big tournament coming up." Blaze replied. "When there's no tournament coming, people often just use the arena for fun or to have spars with friends and rivals." She looked up at the arena and smirked. "Those two use the arena more than anyone else I've seen. They spar with each other at least twice a week."

"Amazing." Tiny said, shaking his head in awe. He had no idea that there were people out there that could potentially be stronger than him. If there were arenas like this, then there HAD to be stronger people out there.

"Oh! Hey, Blaze!" A female voice called out from the benches.

Tiny suddenly became aware of the two girls sitting on one of the concrete benches. One of them was a young human with short, yet wavy, blonde hair and a white dress. The other had purple skin, wavy pink hair and a red & white hat. Tiny also noticed that the second one had no legs, and was instead anchored to the floor by a spout.

"Hey, Namine. Vivian." Blaze said to the two girls respectively.

"What brings you here?" Vivian asked.

"Just showing a new tourist around VG Central." Blaze replied, jerking her thumb towards Tiny. "He's into good fights, so I figured he'd like the old arena here."

"New tourist, eh?" Namine asked as she looked at Tiny. "Hey! He's one of those guys from the Crash Bandicoot node, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Tiny nodded. "Tiny name Tiny."

"Yeah, I know who you are." Namine nodded back. "I always liked playing the games in the Crash series."

"Tiny pleased to hear people still play games." Tiny shrugged with a smirk.

"Actually, I think my boyfriend is even a fan of you." Vivian added as she looked towards the ring. "Hey, Eduardo! Look who's here!"

Hearing Vivian, the two large creatures stopped fighting. The one with the purple fur turned around and saw Tiny. His eyes lit up. "Oh! Senor Tiny Tiger!" He said in an accent as he ran towards the surprised feline.

Once he reached Tiny, the creature, identified as Eduardo, eagerly shook his hand. "Oh, senor! I am big fan of you!" He said.

"Uh…Tiny flattered." Tiny chuckled with a blush.

"He ain't joking." The large turtle chuckled as he stepped out of the ring. "You'd be surprised at how little Eduardo wanted to be a fighter until he saw you in action."

"Don't be modest, Bowser." Blaze scolded. "You were the one to get him to start sparring with you in the first place."

"Well, what can I say? I saw his potential." Bowser shrugged. "Eduardo's one of the strongest lugs I've seen and he just didn't know how he can use it to his fullest."

Tiny suddenly realized something that, to him, was extremely confusing. "Wait. Vivian, you say Eduardo was boyfriend." He pointed out. "You no from same node, though."

Vivian chuckled. "That doesn't mean we can't fall in love." She shrugged. "You'd be surprised at how many people from different nodes fall in love."

"Bowser and I are a prime example." Namine added as she walked over to the mention Koopa, showing that she was at least a foot shorter than he was.

"Bowser and Namine, too?!" Tiny asked, surprised.

"Yeah." Bowser replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I only kidnap Peach in the games so many times because I get paid big bucks to do it."

"You'd be surprised how much more different Bowser is from his video game persona." Namine pointed out. "He's actually one big softie."

"And thankfully, the company listened to my request to make me seem less evil." Bowser sighed, remembering something from years ago. "I really don't like acting like I'm pure evil, you know."

"That why Bowser was nicer in later games?" Tiny asked.

"Heh. You're a lot smarter than the games make you out to be, pal." Bowser chuckled.

"So you guys friends?" Tiny asked, looking at everyone. "You hang out much?"

"Yeah. Pretty much covers it." Blaze nodded. "We like to hang around here whenever we can."

"And it's not just us, senor Tiny." Eduardo added. "There's a few more amigos around, but we haven't seen them in a while…"

"Oh, right! That reminds me!" Blaze said in realization. "I got an e-mail from Max earlier today. He and Sam are taking a well-earned vacation after finishing their first season of episodic games."

"Oh, so THAT'S where that furry, white…Uh…Rabbity-thing went to." Bowser said.

"Actually, we'd love to have you join us, Tiny." Vivian offered. "We're always willing to accept new 'members' into our little 'wolfpack'."

"Wolfpack?" Tiny asked.

"What it means is that we work together and back each other up when needed." Blaze said before chuckling. "That and we just do stuff around VG Central together."

"Well, sure. Tiny love to join in." Tiny replied.

"Oh, you won't regret it, pal." Bowser said, walking over and slapping Tiny on the back (making Tiny stagger forward a couple of steps). "You'll have a blast. Isn't that right, Eduardo?"

"Si, senor Bowser!" Eduardo nodded vigorously.

After swapping his e-mail address with the others, Tiny looked at his watch and realized that it was getting close to five. He needed to get back to his home node in time for supper and he was already running about ten minutes late. Flashing a nervous grin, Tiny looked at his new friends.

"Uh…Sorry, but Tiny need to get going." Tiny said. "Tiny need to get back to home node soon before others worry about him."

"Quite understandable, Tiny." Namine laughed. "It was great meeting you and we'll be looking forward to seeing you again."

"Yeah. You'll be coming back again, right?" Vivian asked.

"Definitely." Tiny nodded with a smile.

"I'll lead you back to the nodal train, Tiny." Blaze offered. "Since it's your first day in VG Central, you might not know your way back."

"Okay. Tiny go with Blaze." Tiny nodded.

Saying goodbye to the others, Tiny followed Blaze back into the streets of VG Central. Eventually, Tiny was back at the Nodal Train Station, and purchased his ticket back home. As he was getting ready to board the train, he looked at Blaze.

"Tiny thank Blaze for helping him today." Tiny said.

"Oh, it's nothing, Tiny." Blaze assured. "I'm glad to help."

"But Tiny feel that there something to pay Blaze back for kindness she showed him." Tiny said before coming up with an idea. "How about Tiny take Blaze to lunch someday?"

"Tiny, that's not necessary." Blaze laughed.

"It least Tiny could do."

"You really don't have to-"

"Blaze, Tiny insist." Tiny said, smiling.

Blaze sighed, although she was smiling when she was. Sure, she had just met Tiny, but he seemed like a good guy. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get to know him a little better. "Okay, Tiny. You win." She relented.

Grinning, Tiny nodded. "Okay, we do lunch someday." He said. "Uh…Tiny go now. Goodbye, Blaze. And thanks again."

"Anytime, Tiny." Blaze said, waving goodbye as Tiny stepped onto the train. "Anytime."

Still waving, Blaze watched as the nodal train took off, speeding into the portal that appeared.

During the ride back, Tiny found himself staring out the window again, this time in deep thought. He had a great time for his first day in VG Central. He had met new friends and seen things he never even knew existed. He couldn't wait until the next time he would decide to make the trip to VG Central…

Suddenly, Tiny smelled something burning. Looking to his left, he saw the lab assistant from the earlier train ride approaching. However, one thing Tiny noticed was that his entire left side was burned. His right side, for some strange reason, looked untouched.

"What happen to henchman?!" Tiny asked worriedly.

The henchman sighed. "The same thing that always happens at the scientist competitions." He replied. "There was a nuclear explosion, everything got totaled and we all barely escaped with our lives. Yeesh, this is just getting so boring now."

The henchman looked to his right and saw N. Gin stumbling over. "Hey, N. Gin! Who's project was the one that exploded?" He called out.

N. Gin turned, showing that his entire left side was burned as well, but like the henchman, his right side looked fine. "I can't hear you over the ringing!!" He shouted before looking around angrily. "DOES SOMEBODY WANNA GET THAT PHONE OR SOMETHING?!?!"

"I was wondering if you knew whose project exploded!" The henchman repeated.

"…You mean the first time?" N. Gin asked.

"Yeah! The first time!"

"I dunno…The one beside us."

"Yeah, this side." N. Gin and the henchman said at the same time, motioning towards their left sides, which was also the side they were burned on.

"Well, I think I'm just going to find a place to lay down until we get back." The henchman sighed as he stumbled towards an empty bench and lay down.

N. Gin paused for a second. "There's that phone again." He sighed as he wandered towards an empty bench as well.

Tiny, seeing that the two were alright, shrugged and looked out the window again. His thoughts were once again flooded with the things of VG Central. The strange Rabbids, the dance-off at the arcade, meeting the others, but one thing stood out amongst everything else.

For some reason, it was Blaze.

To be continued…

Author's note: I didn't come up with the pairings of Eduardo/Vivian or Bowser/Namine. Those were created by others (I'm not sure if Tinyrocket created them, but I know he uses them in his stories).


	4. Out to Lunch

Chapter Four: Out to Lunch

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For the next few days, Tiny did a lot of e-mailing, for the most part to the people he had met in VG Central. Another person he e-mailed a bit was Blaze, whose company he seemed to enjoy the most. He wanted to make good on his offer to treat her to lunch one day, so Tiny and Blaze e-mailed each other back and forth in an attempt to come up with a day they were both available. Eventually, the two managed to settle on a day and scheduled the date.

The remaining days seemed to speed by for Tiny. This was his first time he had ever gone on a date and he wanted to make sure that he didn't screw up. Unfortunately, that was all Tiny had on his mind, because he kept thinking of different ways he could mess up.

Thankfully, his friends were there to offer friendly advice and pointers. The words that echoed through his head the most was the advice Dingodile had given him, which was to make sure that he acted like a gentleman to her.

Finally, the day had arrived. Not wanting to be late, Tiny got up earlier than he usually did and started on his way to the Nodal Train Station at around quarter-after eleven.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, Tiny?" Coco asked as she saw Tiny briskly walking towards the entrance of the village.

Tiny stopped walking and looked back, grinning. "Tiny have date today!"

"Oh, yeah! It's with that Blaze cat from the Sonic node, isn't it?" Coco asked.

"That her." Tiny nodded.

"I hope it goes okay." Coco replied.

"Hope what goes okay?"

Tiny and Coco looked to the side and watched Dingodile walk into view.

"Tiny's leaving to go meet his lunch-date at VG Central." Coco replied.

"Oh, was that today?" Dingodile asked. "Well, Ah'm rooting fer ya, Tiny!"

"Tiny hope he no mess up." Tiny noted.

"Tiny, you'll be fine." Coco assured as she approached. "Just remember what we've told you."

"Tiny no see what salamanders with tennis racquets have to do with dates." Tiny said, scratching his head.

"Ah think she means about the advice we gave ya fer goin' on dates." Dingodile pointed out.

"Oh! Well, Dingodile and Coco no worry!" Tiny said. "Tiny know what to do."

"Good to hear, Tiny." Coco nodded with a smile. "Now you go out there and have fun."

Bidding farewell to his friends, Tiny made his way back to the Nodal Train Station. After buying a ticket, Tiny stepped onto the train and awaited to arrive in VG Central.

Eventually, Tiny's train arrived at its destination and Tiny stepped off. VG Central didn't look any different from before. In fact, Tiny could spot a few people walking around that he could have sworn he saw on his last trip.

Pulling out a piece of paper, Tiny looked it over. On the paper were directions to the diner he was to meet Blaze, and after figuring out which way on the paper was which, he was off.

Tiny walked along the sidewalk until he reached an intersection. Tiny would have continued running when a Rabbid came running by from around the corner. Tiny saw that there were several more Rabbids chasing the lone one down, and each one of them was screaming.

Once the Rabbids had passed, Tiny took the time to look at his watch. "Same time as last time." He noted before he shrugged and continued walking.

Before too long, Tiny arrived at the diner he was looking for. Seeing that he was a little early, Tiny stepped inside to wait for Blaze.

The diner wasn't that busy. In fact, there was only one other couple sitting at a booth. Deciding not to bother the couple, Tiny wandered over to one of the free booths by the window and sat down, waiting for Blaze to arrive.

Before too long, Tiny heard the bell over the front door to the diner ring, signaling that someone had entered the diner. The huge feline looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, saw Blaze entering the diner. She looked around a couple of times.

"Over here, Blaze!" Tiny called out. Blaze looked in his direction and saw him. She smiled as she made her way over.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting, Tiny." Blaze said as she arrived at the booth and sat down across from Tiny.

"It fine. Tiny only here few minutes." Tiny chuckled.

"Oh, and thanks again for treating, Tiny." Blaze added. "I have to admit that no one's ever gone out of their way to do that for me."

"Tiny no see why." Tiny shrugged.

Blaze blushed at the compliment and tried to hide it. Unfortunately, she failed, as Tiny noticed the colour change in Blaze's cheeks.

"Blaze okay?" Tiny asked. "She look red."

"I-I'm fine, Tiny." Blaze nodded.

At that point, a waitress walked over to their booth with a notepad. "You guys ready to order?" She asked, preparing to write.

"I'll just take a burger, thanks." Blaze said.

"Uh…Tiny take steak-sandwich. Medium." Tiny added.

"Got it." The waitress said, scribbling the orders down. "Anything on the side?"

"Salad." Both Blaze and Tiny said as one before looking at each other in surprise.

The waitress let out a quick chuckle. "Okay. I'll be right back with your order." She said as she walked off.

"So…What now?" Blaze asked.

"Why not we talk?" Tiny suggested. "Maybe Tiny start off by asking what Blaze's world like."

"It's not bad." Blaze admitted. "But then again, I'm somewhat of a new resident to the Sonic node. It took me a bit to get used to everything, but once I did, it got better."

"Things in node like games?" Tiny asked.

"Except for the fact that Eggman isn't as evil as the games make him out to be, it's pretty much exactly the same. Sonic still races everywhere extremely fast, Tails is a master mechanic and Amy has a severe crush on Sonic." Blaze replied. "Everyone's made trips here at least once, but I think I've been to VG Central the most, due to the fact that I'm newer and haven't seen a whole lot of work yet."

"Tiny thinks that Blaze get good work soon." Tiny assured with a smile.

Blaze sighed sadly, although she smiled as she did. "Thanks Tiny, but I don't think I have that good of a chance because I stand out so much." She admitted.

"How does Blaze stand out?" Tiny asked.

Instead of saying her reply, Blaze snapped her fingers. A spark of fire lit up on her fingertip, which quickly spread throughout the rest of her hand. Within seconds, Blaze was holding a floating fireball in her hand.

"Everyone in the Sonic node fights normally. Mostly everyone relies on jumping on enemies' heads, while people like Knuckles and Rouge use punches and kicks to do the job." Blaze replied. "Heck, even Big has a weapon in that fishing rod of his. I'm the only one that fights with magic. I guess I've just been feeling like I don't fit in all that well."

"Blaze no say that." Tiny said. "Tiny think she very likable!"

Blaze chuckled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks again. "Thanks, Tiny." She replied before sighing again. "You know what? I envy you, Tiny."

"What does Blaze mean?"

"The games portray you as a villain, and yet you're one of the nicest guys I've ever met." Blaze replied, shaking her head in slight awe. "You don't complain about what roles you get."

"Well, Tiny no like roles he and Dingodile get, but yeah, Tiny no never to complain and take what you get." Tiny said.

"…Tiny, answer me truthfully about this." Blaze said. "If you were given a choice to either take a better role or give it to your friend, which one would you do?"

"Oh, Tiny let Dingodile take role." Tiny replied without hesitation. "Him deserve better role more than Tiny."

"You see?! That's exactly what I'm saying!" Blaze pointed out. "You don't even put yourself first!"

Tiny's ears drooped. "Is…That bad?"

"Bad? Tiny, I wish that more people could be more like you!" Blaze said. "You'd be surprised at how many people I hear complain about the poor roles they were given in the games. You're not like that!"

"Tiny not?"

"No! You're…I don't know how to put this…You've got more heart in you than a lot of main characters I've crossed paths with." Blaze explained. "You don't complain and instead play the role you're given with so much passion that it looks like you actually enjoy it!"

This time it was Tiny's turn to blush. The huge feline rubbed the back of his head nervously, not really used to getting such compliments from anyone, let alone from a pretty woman like Blaze.

Tiny's eyes widened slightly. Did he just think that Blaze was pretty? Taking a second, better look at Blaze, Tiny realized that he was wrong. Blaze wasn't pretty. No, she was absolutely _beautiful_. Tiny felt his blush getting more intense. He really hoped Blaze wasn't looking. Thankfully, her head was down.

"It's people like you that make me wish I ended up in a different node, Tiny." Blaze sighed, a tear rolling down her cheek. "A lot of the people in my node aren't very pleased with the roles they're given. Saying that they deserve more than what they were getting and that they had a good mind to complain to the boss. Sometimes, the only way for me to get away from all that is to come here. That's why I know this place like the back of my hand."

Tiny shook his head in disbelief. "Blaze, maybe only thing to do is to be pleased with roles Blaze gets. Maybe others see it and stop complaining." He suggested.

"Believe me. I've tried. While it HAS managed to get a couple of the others to stop complaining and act pleasant, there's still a lot of unhappy campers in my node."

Tiny was about to reply when he heard a clinking noise. Looking to his right, he saw that the food had arrived. He thanked the waitress and turned back to Blaze. "Blaze stay strong. She keep staying positive." He said. "Come on, Blaze no cry. Tiny like her better when she happy."

Blaze managed a weak smile and wiped her tears away. "Thanks, Tiny. You don't know how good it feels to get all that off my chest." She said.

"No problem, Blaze. Tiny glad to help." Tiny nodded. "We better get eating before food get cold."

Blaze nodded with a smile as she grabbed a fork and dug into her salad.

The rest of the lunch went smoothly. Tiny came through on his promise and paid the bill at the end. After they finished, Tiny and Blaze left the diner and started walking down the sidewalk. As they walked down one sidewalk, the two cats seemed oblivious to the group of Rabbids racing down the other sidewalk across the street, chasing another one down.

"Thanks for lunch, Tiny." Blaze said with a smile. "That was very sweet of you."

"Blaze deserve it." Tiny nodded. "After what she did to help Tiny on first day here, Tiny need way to make it up to her."

"Well, what do you want to do, now?" Blaze asked.

"Friends no expecting me back till later." Tiny admitted. "What Blaze want to do?"

Blaze smirked. "Race you to the arcade?"

Tiny returned the smirk. "Blaze on."

With that, the two cats raced off down the sidewalk, going in the direction of the arcade, laughing the entire time. However, unknown to them, a lone figure stood in an alleyway, standing in the shadows. He pulled out his radio.

"Sir, we're losing precious time." The figure said. "If we don't act soon, this whole plan of yours will go down the drain."

"_I'm aware of that, fool." _The mysterious voice said from the other side of the radio. _"But with the target hanging around that new friend, we haven't had time to."_

"What do you propose, sir?" The shadowed figure asked.

"_We have no choice. We'll have to act tomorrow." _The voice replied. _"For now, report back."_

"Sir." The figure replied as he shut off the radio and turned to walk away.

To be continued…


	5. Kidnapped

Chapter Five: Kidnapped

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The next day, Tiny was once again up earlier than he usually was. People were starting to wonder what it was that was making Tiny get up so early, but Coco and Dingodile had a pretty good feeling that it was the girl he had met in VG Central, Blaze. Blaze had told Tiny yesterday that she would be around again today, and Tiny just couldn't wait to see her again.

At around ten in the morning, Tiny found himself once again going to the Nodal Train Station. Tiny wondered what it was about Blaze that made him want to see her again, and those thoughts still lingered on his mind as he was traveling through the wormhole void on the way to VG Central again. There was just something about Blaze that made Tiny want to see her, and whenever he was around her, he felt good for some strange reason. Tiny made a mental note to ask Dingodile about it later as he continued on his trip.

Eventually, the train arrived at its destination, and Tiny once again found himself in VG Central. Getting off the train, Tiny found himself going down the sidewalks, looking at all of the different people walking around. Before he left VG Central the day before, Blaze had told him that she would be hanging out at the arena with the others for a bit, so that was where Tiny headed first.

During his walk, Tiny walked towards the arcade, where a small crowd was gathering. However, the crowd dispersed, showing that whatever was going on in the arcade was finished. Tiny's eyes lit up when he saw Blaze leaving the crowd, walking away from Tiny, whom was approaching from behind.

Tiny smirked. He was tempted to call Blaze's name, but decided against it, thinking that it would be funnier if she was surprised about his presence. So in the end, Tiny followed Blaze from a distance, making sure that his footsteps were light so she wouldn't hear them.

Tiny followed Blaze in the direction of the arena where the others probably were. However, as Blaze was passing an alleyway, an arm reached out from it and grabbed her. Blaze screamed as the arm pulled her into the alleyway, but her cries were quickly muffled.

"Blaze!!" Tiny shouted as he charged towards where Blaze had vanished, hoping to get to her before it was too late.

When Tiny arrived at the alleyway and his eyes widened at what he saw. Aside from Blaze, the only people in the alleyway were a gray mouse with shades and a human woman dressed as a pirate. The pirate was the one holding onto Blaze, one arm wrapped around her midsection and the other hand clamped tightly over her mouth. Tiny could tell that Blaze was attempting to create flames to ward off her attackers, but her arms were pinned to her sides and she couldn't seem to get any magic going.

Tiny's eyes narrowed in hatred. "Hey!!" He shouted.

The mouse and the pirate looked at Tiny and their eyes widened. The mouse quickly looked at the woman. "Get her outta here!" He said.

"On it." The pirate nodded as she kicked open the door of a nearby building and dragged Blaze inside. Tiny could see the pleading look on Blaze's face as the door shut behind her.

Tiny rushed over to the door and tried opening it, but found that it was locked. Tiny tried breaking the door down, but something was preventing him from doing so. After a couple of tries, Tiny suddenly remembered the mouse. Looking in the mouse's direction, Tiny saw the mouse running away.

His eyes flaring up in anger, Tiny backed away from the door, crouched low and bared his razor-sharp claws. Letting out a primal roar, Tiny stampeded after the mouse, starting on all fours to make him go faster.

"Mouse get back here right now!!" Tiny roared. He knew that the mouse would know where Blaze was being taken, so he made chasing him down a top priority. And from the looks of things, Tiny was rapidly gaining on the mouse.

Tiny furiously chased the mouse through the back alleyways of VG Central, and was rapidly gaining on him. Tiny was determined to save Blaze from whatever had taken her, and he realized that this mouse knew how to do it.

The mouse tried to escape Tiny's wrath, but once the tiger got close enough, the huge feline leapt at him and tackled him to the ground. The two rolled on the ground for a couple of feet, but in the end, the mouse found himself pinned to the ground, Tiny pressing his huge hands against his shoulders and shooting an icy glare into his eyes.

"H-Hey! G-Get off me, will ya?!" The mouse said.

"Where Blaze?!?!" Tiny roared.

"Tiny, what's going on?"

Tiny looked up and saw Bowser, Namine, Eduardo and Vivian approaching. Tiny realized that he had chased the mouse all of the way to the old arena. The mouse tried to take advantage of the situation and tried struggling to get away, but Tiny's grip was still tight, even when he wasn't paying attention.

Tiny looked at Namine, the one that had asked the question. "Blaze kidnapped!" He replied.

"WHAT?!" All four of the others asked as one.

"Mouse one of thugs who kidnap her, but other get away with Blaze!" Tiny added.

Bowser looked down at the mouse and did a double-take. "Hey! That's Mouser!" He pointed out. "He's from my home node! He hasn't seen any work in a while, though…"

"Tiny ask again!!" Tiny told the mouse, now identified as Mouser. "WHERE BLAZE?!?!"

"D-Don't hurt me!" Mouser pleaded. "I'm just a henchman! I was told that I would get some more work if I helped out!"

"Who told you?!" Vivian asked, approaching with a flame in her hand.

"I-I don't know!" Mouser said.

"Mouse lying!!" Tiny roared.

"N-NO! I don't know who my boss is! I swear!!" Mouser insisted.

"I think he's telling the truth, Tiny." Bowser said. "Mouser may be a loyal henchman, but he's also a complete coward. If he's threatened, he'll blab everything."

"What's Senorita Blaze needed for?" Eduardo asked, looking surprisingly cross.

"I-I wasn't told of that, either!" Mouser replied.

"This is getting us nowhere." Namine sighed.

"Then where Blaze get taken?!" Tiny shouted.

Mouser gazed into Tiny's eyes and saw that his glare was both cold and firey at the same, which was something Mouser didn't even think was possible. Deciding that he valued his limbs more than his work, he confessed. "She was taken to the Restricted Zone!" He said. "It's all I know! I swear!"

Tiny narrowed his eyes at Mouser for a couple of seconds before realizing that he wouldn't get anything more out of him. Tiny stood up, picking up Mouser at the same time, before hurling the large rodent into a brick wall, knocking him out.

"What Restricted Zone?" Tiny asked.

"That's the only place in VG Central where characters like us aren't allowed." Vivian replied. "That place acts as a storage area for supplies headed to different nodes and the only people allowed in that area are the humans that work in VG Central."

"I wonder how these guys would be able to sneak Blaze into that area." Bowser mused.

"Tiny no worry about that now! He need to save Blaze!" Tiny said. "Where Restricted Zone?"

"It's at the edge of VG Central." Namine replied, pointing off to the southeast. "Just keep going in that direction and you'll get there."

"But Senor Tiny shouldn't go alone!" Eduardo said.

"Yeah! We'll go with you, pal." Bowser nodded.

Tiny suddenly came up with an idea and shook his head. "Tiny go alone for now. But how about others go look for more people to help save Blaze?"

"Hey! Yeah!" Vivian said. "We could get some more people to help out! That would make our chances a lot better!"

"Okay. Tiny, you go on ahead of us." Bowser instructed. "We'll spread the word and get some help and be around in about half an hour."

Tiny nodded. "Sounds good to Tiny." He said.

"Okay. Good luck, Tiny." Namine said. "But be careful."

"Tiny be careful." Tiny nodded. "Blaze counting on him."

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Following Namine's directions, Tiny eventually arrived at the entrance to the Restricted Zone of VG Central. The wire fence only had one entrance, and that was guarded. The two guards standing at the entrance were armed with stun-guns, which were sure to ward off anyone attempting to get inside.

"There entrance. Blaze probably inside now." Tiny mused as he stood behind a building. "But…How Tiny going to get past guards?"

Tiny pondered his predicament for a couple of seconds before an idea came into his head. "It worth try."

"AAAAAGHHHH!!!!" Tiny screamed as he ran out from his hiding place, rushing towards the surprised guards while frantically waving his arms. "LOOK OUT!! IT GOING TO CRASH!!!"

"Huh?" The guards asked as they looked up to see what was going on. Tiny rushed past the guards while they were distracted, going into the Restricted Zone. When the guards looked down again, Tiny was gone. They looked around for a bit, wondering where he went.

To be continued…


	6. Searching

Chapter Six: Searching

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Thankfully, the guards didn't bother to follow Tiny and instead continued to stand at their posts. Tiny poked his head out from behind a crate, his eyes wide.

"Tiny no believe that actually WORK." Tiny said, shaking his head. "Well, now Tiny can go find Blaze."

Tiny started his search, but quickly saw that finding Blaze would be much easier said than done, because the Restricted Zone was made up of countless storage buildings. Any supplies that weren't inside the many small buildings scattered around were littered around everywhere else. Tiny quickly noticed that there were several guards patrolling the area, so the huge feline had to make sure that he was out of sight when one passed by.

Eventually, Tiny found himself climbing onto a stack of crates. From there, he climbed onto the roof of one of the storage buildings so he could have a better view of the area. Tiny's eyes widened and his ears drooped when he saw how enormous the area was. Searching the entire place by himself could take hours upon hours.

Tiny quickly looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes." He mused to himself. "Ten minutes and others be here."

Seeing as he had no choice, Tiny went back to the ground and started his search, hoping to find Blaze quickly.

Tiny searched through the first several storage buildings and had so far come up empty-handed. Not only had he not found Blaze, but he hadn't found that pirate woman that was seen kidnapping her in the first place.

After sneaking around a few more guards, Tiny approached the door of one of the small buildings and crept over to the door.

"Hold it right there, fleabag."

Tiny's eyes widened at the unfamiliar voice and spun around. Just as he thought, it was the pirate woman from earlier. Several guards were behind her, aiming their guns at Tiny.

"Why guards helping woman?!" Tiny asked.

"Oh, the boss took care of them with a little brainwashing spell." The pirate explained with a chuckle.

Tiny narrowed his eyes. "Why you take Blaze?!' He demanded.

"I'm still not sure. The boss never told me." The pirate shrugged. "But he promised me that I would make a big comeback if I helped him. Soon, everyone that plays Mario games will know of the name 'Captain Syrup'!"

Tiny lifted an eyebrow. "That stupid name." He said.

Syrup narrowed her eyes. "Okay. You just made me mad, freak." She said before looking at the guards. "Boys, get him! Just remember to save the last of him for me!"

The brainwashed guards approached Tiny from all angles. Tiny sighed. He didn't really want to hurt the guards, but as it stood, it didn't look like he had much of a choice. Without looking, Tiny thrust his fist sideways, clocking an oncoming guard in the face. The others seemed to take this as a starting bell, because they all jumped at Tiny once he acted.

Tiny was quick to react. After punching another guard's lights out, he grabbed the legs of another one, spun in place and hurled him into a group of several more guards. By now, Tiny realized that guards were surrounding him. There must have been at least twenty of them.

"This not exactly fair fight." Tiny noted as he kicked a guard in the face. "For guards!"

Grabbing another guard, Tiny started beating others over the heads with him. Once he was done, Tiny threw the guard he had used as a weapon away, the continued to fight off the others.

Standing aside, Syrup sighed. She saw how well Tiny was fighting off the brainwashed guards and realized that she would have a harder time taking him out than she would have liked. Syrup, knowing that she would need it, drew her sword and awaited the best moment to strike.

Tiny was starting to knock out a few of the guards, but for the most part, every time he struck a guard, he would get back up again.

"Why guards have toughest endurance?" Tiny mused to himself. "Them hard to knock out."

Knowing that he had to finish the battle quickly, Tiny grabbed a couple of guards and hurled them into the side of one of the storage buildings, knocking them out. However, as he did that, a few guards jumped onto his back from behind, with more guards doing the same shortly thereafter. Within seconds, Tiny had ten guards latched onto his back and he was at the bottom of a dogpile.

Tiny opened his eyes and narrowed them in determination. Leaping to his feet, Tiny spun around wildly, sending all ten guards flying from his back.

"That something Tiny learn from Crash!" Tiny shouted. Looking around, Tiny saw that he had taken out all of the guards.

However, before he could make a move, his heightened hearing picked up some rapid footsteps coming from behind. Thinking quickly, Tiny ducked. Syrup's sword, which would have run the large feline through, soared harmlessly over his head. Tiny quickly grabbed his would-be attacker by the legs and threw her into the nearby storage building.

Seeing (and feeling) her attack getting countered, Syrup slowly got to her feet, her eyes narrowed.

"You think you can defeat me, don't you?" Syrup quizzed.

"Pirate kidnap Blaze!" Tiny shouted back. "Tiny rescue her!"

"No way, chucklehead!" Syrup growled as she got into a stance. "I've waited YEARS for a big comeback! I'm not going to let an oversized throw-rug ruin my biggest chance!"

Tiny narrowed his eyes and crouched into his stance, baring his claws. "You no step aside? Tiny go through pirate hard way, then." He said.

Without giving Tiny time to react, Syrup lunged forward and swung her sword. Tiny quickly lashed out the claws of his right hand, blocking Syrup's attack. Tiny pushed forward, making Syrup stagger back a couple of steps. Tiny used this to his advantage, leaping at Syrup and giving her a hard head-butt to the forehead, following it with a kick to her stomach.

This sent Syrup flying back several feet, landing on her side. Slowly, Syrup stood up. "You're really determined, aren't you?" She asked.

"More than pirate imagine." Tiny replied in anger.

"Well, let's see how you stand up to this." Syrup said as she charged again, swinging her sword at Tiny's arm.

"That no work on Tiny!" Tiny said as he leaned to the side and allowed Syrup to swing beside him. While Syrup was distracted, Tiny thrust his fist into her side, sending her rocketing into the side of the storage building again.

"Pirate have enough?" Tiny asked, walking over to Syrup and standing over her.

"N-No…" Syrup said as she struggled to get up again. "I c-can't lose now. I n-need a comeback…"

"Pirate disgust Tiny." Tiny said as he kicked Syrup, knocking her out.

His job done, Tiny turned around and strode off to continue his search for Blaze.

Eventually, Tiny came upon another storage building. Looking around to make sure that there wasn't anyone around, Tiny twisted the doorknob and opened the door, going inside.

Tiny was expecting this building to be empty like the others were. However, when Tiny saw what was inside, his eyes widened. Leaning against a stack of crates, tied to a chair, was Blaze.

"Blaze!!"

To be continued…


	7. Coming of the Calvary

Chapter Seven: Coming of the Calvary

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Tiny wasted no time in rushing over to Blaze. Upon hearing Tiny's outcry when he saw her, Blaze snapped her head up and saw him coming over. She tried calling out to him, but the cloth tied over her mouth muffled anything she said.

The first thing Tiny did was yank the cloth off of Blaze's mouth, undoing the knot tied behind her head. "Blaze okay?" He asked, gently holding Blaze's shoulders.

"Oh, Tiny. I didn't think you actually come." Blaze said.

"Tiny no let anything happen to Blaze." Tiny assured. He was about to start untying her when a thought suddenly came into his head. "Blaze control fire. Why not she burn through ropes?"

Blaze sighed and jerked her head over her shoulder, where her hands were tied behind her back. "That creep put gloves on me when he tied me up." She explained. "I can't summon flames when I'm wearing gloves."

"Tiny get Blaze free quickly." Tiny said as he grabbed one of the knots keeping Blaze tied to the chair, starting to untie it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A new voice warned.

Tiny turned towards the door, where the new voice had come from. Standing at the doorway, holding a futuristic gun in his hand, was a purple alien standing at about a foot shorter than Tiny.

"Who you?" Tiny asked as he slowly stood up, knowing that any sudden movement could prompt the newcomer to fire the gun.

"That's the creep that kidnapped me." Blaze replied, narrowing her eyes.

"I go by the name of Tatanga." The alien replied. "I come from the Mario node."

Tiny's eyebrow lifted. "Uh…Tiny no know who alien is."

Tatanga's smile dropped. "I…Was a villain."

Silence.

"Super Mario Land?"

More silence.

"For the Gameboy?"

"Oh! That you? Alien look thinner in game." Tiny said.

Tatanga growled. "Get behind the captive, you buffoon." He ordered, pointing the gun at Tiny. "I don't need her getting released, now."

Seeing no alternative, Tiny stepped back behind Blaze. However, glancing to his left, Tiny noticed that the gloves on Blaze's hands were over the ropes on her wrists and not under them. This meant that if he could manage to, Tiny could get the gloves off of Blaze.

"What alien need Blaze for?" Tiny asked Tatanga as he discretely reached for one of the gloves on Blaze's hands.

"For years, I've been in the shadows of Mario games. Ever since that one game I was the villain in, I've been overlooked." Tatanga explained. "Bowser I can understand, because he's the franchise's main villain and all. But Wart and even Captain Syrup had more appearances than me!"

"Them more memorable." Tiny replied as he softly tugged on one of Blaze's gloves.

"But in later games, did the companies remember me and make me the villain? No! They create brand new villains! Cackletta, the Shadow Queen, Princess Shroob and now Count Bleck! I get tossed aside like some old-fashioned puppet in favour of some new, fancy ones!"

"Alien no answer question." Tiny explained. By now, one of Blaze's gloves was almost off. "What need Blaze for?"

"The lady there possesses more firepower than I've ever seen in my life." Tatanga replied. "Her natural ability to control flames exceeds that of the Mario Brothers by at least a hundred percent. With her firepower at my disposal, everyone will fear the name of 'Tatanga'! Soon, the company will see my pure evilness and make me a main villain in the Mario franchise!"

"That's a stupid plan." Blaze pointed out. She had noticed that Tiny was removing her gloves and knew what he was planning. She knew that he needed more time and thought that it was best to stall for time. "For a villain, you're not all that good at coming up with ideas. It's no wonder the companies aren't using you anymore."

"You should be thankful that I need you, lady." Tatanga warned. "If not, I would have shot you by now. Face it. You are now in my grasp and you are unable to do anything about it."

Tiny yanked the glove off of Blaze's hand.

Blaze smirked. "That's what you think." She said as she ignited her uncovered hand in flames, quickly setting the ropes binding her to the chair on fire. Within seconds, Blaze was free. Seeing his captive free, Tatanga backed up until he finally turned tail and made a break for the door.

He didn't get very far, because Blaze hurled a burning ball of fire into his back, stalling Tatanga long enough for Tiny to run up and tackle him, knocking him outside.

The two fighting figures rolled on the ground for several feet before Tatanga managed to kick Tiny off of him in midair. Tiny flew through the air for a second, but quickly uprighted himself while he was flying and landed gracefully on his feet, staring down Tatanga, whom was getting to his feet himself. Blaze ran from the building that had once been her prison and stood beside Tiny.

Tatanga smirked. "This could be interesting." With that, Tatanga snapped his fingers. More brainwashed guards appeared, quickly forming a large circle around Tiny and Blaze. Within moments, there were almost two-hundred guards in the area, the two felines directly in the middle.

"Tiny I don't care how strong you are or how powerful my magic is." Blaze said. "There's no way we'll be able to fight them all off by ourselves."

"Tiny aware of that." Tiny nodded as he looked at his watch. "Anytime now…"

"Hey, Tiny!"

Tiny and Blaze looked up and saw Bowser, Eduardo and Vivian on the roof of a nearby building, looking down at them.

"Um…I don't doubt your skills or anything, pal." Bowser said with a smirk. "But it looks like you need a little help."

"Bowser read Tiny's mind." Tiny said, smirking back.

"Okay, guys!" Vivian shouted aloud. "Let's get'em!"

Scattered around the rooftops, many figures rose from hiding, standing straight and looking down at the army of brainwashed soldiers. The soldiers still outnumbered them greatly, but their chances were a lot better.

Suddenly hearing some loud and rapid footsteps coming from the left, Tatanga looked and saw a man wearing a bright pink gi leaping over the heads of the guards.

"OYAJI!!!" Dan Hibiki screamed as he landed a hard kick to Tatanga's face.

Everyone else seemed to take this as a starting bell, because once Dan attacked, most of the people on the rooftops jumped down and started attacking. The guards tried to counter-attack, but before they could, the fifteen Goombas that were with everyone rained down from above, pelting them with their bodies.

Tiny grabbed a guard and threw him away as he looked at Bowser, whom had head-butted another. "Bowser, where Namine?" He asked.

"Namine isn't much of a fighter, so she went to get the cops." Bowser replied. "We're supposed t hold that reject alien off until they arrive."

Tiny nodded in understanding. "Tiny got it." He said as he swatted another guard away.

Blaze threw a ball of fire at a guard as she saw Vivian stretch out from a shadow on the ground. "Good to see you alright, Blaze." The Shadow Siren said with a smile.

"Thanks, Vivian." Blaze replied as she kicked a guard in the stomach. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Meh. Nothing out of the ordinary." Vivian shrugged as she gave a guard a hard punch to the face. "In fact, aside from your kidnapping, it's been a pretty normal day."

"Well, at least I haven't missed anything." Blaze nodded.

Tatanga, seeing all of the chaos around him, backed away a couple of steps in an attempt to get away. However, he ended up backing into a building, which brought an abrupt end to his escape.

"Look up, reject!"

Tatanga indeed looked up and saw Lucky Glauber (from the King of Fighters node) standing on the roof with the kids from the Megaman Battle Network node. They each held a basketball in his or her hands.

"You kids ready?" Lucky asked.

"I'm ready!" Lan Hikari said eagerly.

"Bring it!" Dex laughed.

"I hope your lessons pay off, Mr. Glauber…" Mayl mused.

"Let 'em have it!!" Lucky shouted as everyone standing on the roof threw his or her basketball down at Tatanga. On the way down, each basketball became engulfed in a strange energy, which made it that much stronger when the first one struck Tatanga square in the forehead. Tatanga felt himself getting pelted with basketballs, and once the last one hit, Lucky jumped down from the roof and gave him a hard kick to the face.

Eduardo was never one to like getting into a fight, but when he got mad, there was no stopping him. He was definitely proving that right now, throwing wild punches and hurling guards in every direction.

Seeing several guards running towards him, Eduardo narrowed his eyes. "You are really asking for this, senors." He warned as he grabbed an unconscious guard by the legs and swung him like a club, most of the oncoming guards and knocking them away. Any guard that wasn't hit fell to Eduardo's following flurry of punches.

"I am sorry, but you must know that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us, senors!" Eduardo shouted as he continued to attack. Never had he felt this angry before, because never had one of his friends been in this type of danger.

Tatanga looked up in time to see Eduardo's rampage. "Focus all of your attacks on the purple one!" He ordered just before Dan Hibiki and Lucky Glauber continued using him as a punching bag.

Most of the guards nearby turned their attention towards Eduardo, but a good amount of them thought they were to go after Vivian, so that's what they did. Vivian saw that several of the guards were homing in on her, so she quickly snapped her fingers, creating some fire.

"Blaze, I think I might need your help on this one!" Vivian called out.

"Got it!" Blaze nodded as she held up a hand and created a ball of fire in it.

Both girls cast their magic at the same time, sending a huge wave of fire at the oncoming guards. The power from the attack alone was enough to knock the guards out.

Tiny had just finished knocking out the last of the guards attacking him. Looking around, he saw that all of the guards in the area had been knocked out. Tatanga was the only one left standing, and Lucky quickly pushed him to the ground, where he was too exhausted to try to get back up again.

"How could this day get any worse?" Tatanga wondered.

His question was soon answered, as twelve Rabbids poked their heads into his view, forming a circle around his field of sight. The Rabbids stood in silence for a few seconds before screaming psychotically.

As the group of Rabbids beat on the downed Tatanga with blunt objects, Tiny saw Blaze standing over another unconscious guard and made his way over.

"Blaze." Tiny said once he reached her side. "Blaze sure she okay?"

Blaze looked up at Tiny and smiled. "Never better."

"There he is, officer!"

Everyone turned towards the voice and saw Namine storming through the crowd with several policemen with her. She quickly arrived at the group of screaming Rabbids, whom were still whacking Tatanga with whatever they had.

"Boys, could you step aside, please?" Namine asked.

This made the Rabbids stop what they were doing and leave Tatanga.

"This creep kidnapped one of my friends." Namine explained.

"We appreciate your help, ma'am." One of the policemen said as several other apprehended Tatanga.

The Tatanga was hauled away, Blaze chuckled and looked at Tiny. "Boy, some day this has turned out to be, eh?" She asked.

"And it only lunchtime." Tiny added.

To be continued…


	8. Epilogue

Chapter Eight: Epilogue

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"…And that's pretty much all that happened." Blaze finished.

Blaze was currently having a visit with Tiny's friends and had just finished telling everyone about what Tiny had done for her a couple of days ago. After she finished, everyone listening to her was left wide-eyed.

"Wow. Tiny actually did all of that?" Coco asked in disbelief.

"He really did." Blaze nodded. "He was so brave then."

Tiny blushed and suddenly took a big interest in the ground. Dingodile saw this and laughed, giving him a slap to the back.

"Ya don't have ta act so modest, Tiny." Dingodile said. "From the sound of things, ya really deserve it."

Tiny gave a nervous smirk. "Tiny thank Dingodile." He said.

"I'm surprised that there are actually people that desperate for more work." Aku Aku said in disappointment. "I never thought people like that even existed."

"Thankfully, he was shipped back to his home node." Blaze said. "Bowser's going to be teaching him the error of his ways every day for the next while."

"I take it things are going to be pretty painful for that alien for the next month." Coco asked.

"You kidding? This is BOWSER I'm talking about." Blaze replied. "I don't think that guy's gonna be WALKING for a month."

"Well, the main thing is that you're okay." Aku Aku said.

"Hey, Tiny. You coulda asked me for help." Crunch pointed out. "I was in the area, you know."

"Tiny no look for help." Tiny replied. "Friends look for help and Tiny guess they no find Crunch."

"So what's in store fer ya guys, now?" Dingodile asked. "Ya really getting' together?"

"Oh, definitely." Blaze nodded. "You have no idea how long I've been searching for someone like Tiny. He's everything the people from my node aren't, and he's probably one of the most selfless people I've ever met."

"Heh. That's Tiny fer ya." Dingodile chuckled. "And Ah bet that yer feelings just got stronger when he saved ya."

"You have no idea." Blaze replied. "There's just something about him that clicked as soon as I saw him enter that building."

"Well, you don't have to worry about anything, now." Coco assured. "With Tiny looking after you, I don't think there'll be any danger around for a while."

"Heh. Coco's right, there." Crunch laughed. "Tiny's always protective of his friends. Just try to imagine how protective he'll be for his girlfriend."

"I know." Blaze replied with a smile. She placed her cup down and looked around. "Thank you for having me over, guys. Dinner was great."

"Hey. Any friend of Tiny's is a friend of ours." Coco said. "Don't forget that you're welcome here anytime you feel like it, Blaze."

"Yeah. It'd be great ta have ya stop by once in a while." Dingodile added. "It's always good ta see some new faces around here."

"Thanks for the invitation. I'll be sure to stop by as often as I can." Blaze said as she glanced up towards a clock on the wall. "Oh, dear. Look at the time. I need to get going if I want to make it back to my home node by seven."

"Tiny walk Blaze to Nodal Train Station." Tiny offered as he stood up.

"I'd like that, Tiny."

After bidding everyone farewell, Tiny and Blaze left the small house, quickly leaving the village and starting off down the path leading to the Nodal Train Station. Unfortunately, there were no trains that went directly to the Sonic node, so Blaze would have to go to VG Central, and then get onto another train from there.

"Your friends truly are something, Tiny." Blaze said. "Everyone seems so…Well…Nice here. And their attitudes towards their roles are SO much better than the people in my node."

"Them best friends Tiny ask for." Tiny admitted with a grin. "Tiny no know what he do without them."

Blaze looked around at the lush jungle scenery around. "And your node is so much more peaceful. My node is littered with cities. It just seems that everywhere in yours is nothing but jungle." She said. "Boy, what I wouldn't give to move somewhere like here."

"What stopping Blaze?" Tiny asked.

"Because this isn't my place, Tiny." Blaze said. "I can't live here because I'm not from your node. I need to stay in my node for future games."

"But why not Blaze move here?" Tiny asked again. "Blaze keep phone on her. Whenever new game announce, she go to Sonic node to do game. But she live here when no game being made."

Blaze's eyes widened in realization as she stopped walking. She had honestly never thought about that, and yet it made so much sense. She could move here to be with Tiny, going back to the Sonic node to appear in new games. Yes, she had a few friends in the Sonic node, but she had to admit that she really wasn't enjoying herself. If she moved to the Crash node, she would be with people whom would probably provide much better company, and be surrounded in peaceful scenery that she would take over a city any day.

Tiny noticed that Blaze had stopped walking and looked at her. "Blaze okay?" He asked with concern.

"I…I never thought about that." Blaze said. "And yet, it's…So obvious. I could have moved a long time ago and still did the Sonic games."

Tiny shrugged. "Something to think about." He suggested.

"No, Tiny. I've already thought about it." Blaze said. "I'd like nothing more than to live in a node where everyone is happy with what they're given. And the scenery here is ten times better than back in the Sonic node."

Tiny looked around and shrugged again. "Yeah. Tiny think scenery peaceful." He nodded. "But that what Blaze REALLY want to do?"

"Yes." Blaze replied without hesitation. "I'd take this node as a home over the Sonic one any day of the week."

Eventually, the two cats arrived at the Nodal Train Station. After Blaze purchased a ticket, the two walked up onto the platform, where the Nodal Train was waiting to depart.

"Thanks for inviting me over, Tiny." Blaze said. "It was real sweet of you."

"Hey, Tiny and Blaze going out now." Tiny chuckled with a shrug. "Tiny think it best for Blaze to meet everyone."

"Oh, And before I forget, I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for me that day."

"Blaze no need to say that. She already thank Tiny five times."

"I know. But it's just that I owe you so much now and I don't know how to repay you."

"Blaze owe Tiny nothing." Tiny assured. "Tiny glad to help."

Blaze sighed with a smile. "Tiny, you're too nice for your own good. I really hope you're portrayed like this in the games someday." She gave a light chuckle. "I really think you'd make a better hero than a villain."

"Tiny enjoy role better if him good guy." Tiny nodded. "But Tiny fine with role he have for now."

Blaze looked at the train and saw that it was getting ready to leave. "I'd better go, Tiny." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"At old arena in VG Central?" Tiny asked with a smirk.

"Same time. Same place." Blaze nodded. She gave Tiny a kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye, Tiny."

Tiny waved goodbye as Blaze stepped onto the Nodal Train. He was still waving as the train started moving, and didn't stop until after it had vanished into the wormhole leading to VG Central completely.

When the train was finally gone, Tiny smiled and turned to walk back down the stairs to leave the Nodal Train Station.

For him, the future looked very bright.

END

Author's note: Well, that's finished. Sorry if the ending was corny, but I couldn't think of any other way to end it.


End file.
